Parks budget hit hard in Walker budget, DeBruin says

Also on this page: Dog park development proposed. Parks seek 18.6% levy boost.

Oct. 24, 2004 -- The Parks Department is being hit hard in County

Executive Scott Walker's proposed 2005 county budget, County Supervisor Lynne DeBruin says.

Walker's budget calls for selling $300,000 worth of equipment the county, much of it purchased just a few years ago to allow the Parks Department to cut staff, DeBruin said.

The proposed budget also provides just $700,000 for major maintenance, money that is used to keep buildings in good repair.

"You're really talking about one or two roofs" with a $700,000 budget, DeBruin said. "We weren't keeping up with major maintenance at $2 million a year, $3 million a year. That's a major concern."

Much of the equipment Walker wants to sell was purchased as part of a $2.3 million effort to upgrade equipment so the county could improve efficiency and operate with fewer parks workers, said DeBruin, chair of the County Board's Parks Committee.

"You'd have to sell a large amount of it because of the depreciation," she said. "If you force her (Parks Director Sue Black) to sell the equipment that allows them to care for the parks, it's almost like cutting additional staff."

If Walker's proposal is adopted by the board, she said, "then you need the bodies back, and this budget doesn't give you the bodies back."

Walker's budget calls for cutting 296.7 vacant positions in parks.

Dog park development proposed

Oct. 1, 2004 -- County executive Scott Walker is proposing the first county-operated dog exercise park as part of his 2005 budget.

If the $95,000 in capital spending proposed for the park is approved by the County Board, the Parks Department would establish a fee schedule for park use.

The proposed off-leash fee structure would be as follows: annual permit, $20; daily permit, $5; senior permit, $10; disabled permit, $10; additional dog, $5; replacement tag, $10.

The county is negotiating with Residents for Off-Leash Milwaukee Parks for establishment of a dog park a 27.4 acre park. The site is not disclose in Walker's budget proposal, but ROMP's web site lists as a possible site a tract of about 22 acres at Anderson Lake on 68th St. between Loomis Rd. and Rawson Ave.

Doyne Park previously had been mentioned as a possible location for a dog park, but that possibility became less likely when the Doyne golf course re-opened after Walker closed it last year.

Parks seeks 18.6% tax levy boost
'04 fringe benefits 55% underfunded

Aug. 15, 2004 -- County Parks Director Sue Black is seeking an 18.6% increase in property taxes to support parks next year, according to county records.

She also is proposing to eliminate the equivalent of 297 full-time jobs that are now vacant, according to the division’s budget request to be considered by County Executive Scott Walker.

The $3.1 million property tax increase for parks is needed partly because the county this year underfunded parks’ fringe benefit costs by about $1.9 million, or 55%, according to the budget request.

Black’s requested 2005 budget is $39.4 million, up $3 million, or 8.2% from this year’s budget of $36.4 million. The levy would increase from $16.83 million to $19.97million.

The chances that Black will get what she is “all depends on whether the county exec and the board agree with Sue Black’s decision to budget honestly,” said County Supervisor Lynne DeBruin, chairman of the County Board’s Parks Committee.

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DeBruin represents Story Hill on the County Board.

Parks Department revenue projections have traditionally been inflated, DeBruin said. Black is refusing to pump up the 2005 numbers and is instead trying “to get down to a true budget and then operate from there,” DeBruin said.

The fringe benefit problem occurred because the Department of Administrative Services “screwed up” when moving fringe benefits to a central account and then allocating them within the new Department of Parks and Public Infrastructure, she said.

The problem is not only that Parks was underbudgeted, she said – other departments were allocated too much money to pay for fringe benefits, and will have to give up some of that revenue.

“They’re going to go back to these departments and say, 'I need $100,000 back, I need $200,000 back,' ” she said.

The parks budget is not the only one likely to give Walker a headache if he truly wants to submit a zero tax increase budget.

The courts are requesting a levy increase of $3.2 million, or 12.7%, from $24.8 million to $27.9 million. That higher levy is needed to support a requested $37.1 million budget, up $471,000 from this year.

Last year, Walker and the County Board avoided a tax levy showdown with judges when they agreed to count on $2 million in additional revenue from the cash-strapped state. The revenue did not materialize. For 2005, the requested budget eliminates that bit of phantom revenue. Overall non-property tax revenue is projected to decline by $2.7 million, to $9.1 million.

It is unlikely that unlikely revenue will be counted upon again, DeBruin said.

“I can’t imagine anyone on the Finance Committee could even pretend to go there this year,” she said.

The House of Correction, while not seeking a property tax increase, is proposing to close 10 dorms and cut 71 positions. It is projecting a 270-inmate decrease in its average daily population, offset by a 130-per-day increase in the average number of people on electronic surveillance.

Sheriff David Clarke, who last year sought an 18.5% property tax increase for his department, is not seeking a levy increase for 2005. Clarke would be able to maintain a $59 million tax levy in part by abolishing 200 deputy sheriff positions as they become become vacant and replacing them with less expensive jailer jobs.